Coffee and Spirits
by fowl68
Summary: They've been doing scams for years, convincing villagers that Zelos can rid the towns of evil spirits. But when they decide to retire, they're asked to get rid of the local spirit. Not that they have any idea how to do that. AU Eventual Shelos
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything.

**Author's Note:** Got the idea while rereading the Noble Dead Saga and it's based on that series. If you get the chance to read it, please do. It's a great read.

Went to Aquatica yesterday and did a little shopping at JCPenny, one of my favorite stores. Got a few cool shirts, one with Dr. Seuss on it. :) Yes, I'm a total child sometimes. And, because my cousin hasn't seen Smallville, we're rewatching all eight seasons.

Headed to Miami for a mini vacation. It's _hot_ down here, even for Florida, but at least there's an ocean breeze and nearby beaches down there.

Currently in that love/hate relationship with Arc Rise Fantasia right now. Can't beat this stupid plant boss that I should be able to beat, but unfortunately, it's one of those playthroughs that's determined to piss you off.

-/-/-/

_Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee. ~Stephanie Piro_

-/-/-/

The whispers turn into full-on mutters when they see him walk into the village's main square. The man made an impressive sight, his hair looking very bright in the light of the lanterns as it trailed behind him. The edges of a slightly tattered and worn sleeveless coat whipped around his knees.

"It's the Chosen One." They murmur to one another as they tap at each other's shoulders and tug on relatives' hands. "He's come at last."

The village leader strode up to him, leaning partially on his cane. "You don't know what an honor it is to have you here, Chosen One."

The Chosen's hand rests on the hilt of the sword at his left hip. "I heard that there were difficulties here with…evil spirits, was it?"

"Yes. They've been troubling us for near a week and—there! Right there! Did you see it?"

The Chosen follows the man's shaking finger and sees an odd creature. It as similar to a bird, but with elongated arms that ended in long claws and a long trail of feathers. Attached to its back was a wooden wheel, with symbols inscribed at each of eight points along the circle.

"I need you to stay inside." The Chosen told the village leader, drawing his sword.

The village leader didn't question him and half -limped inside one of the huts, his uneven gait marked by the cane thumping.

The Chosen's blade shot out, but it's deflected by the spirit's sharp claws. His sword style was all about thrusts and sharp jabs, not like some of the wide, graceful arcs he'd seen people use in the matches in the Coliseum.

He ducks and weaves out of the way of those talons and the beak, slipping his sword in during any openings. Some of the openings are obvious and he suppresses a smirk. During a particularly wide opening, his sword darted out to where the spirit's heart is. Or where it would be had the spirit still been there, but it had disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

There's a moment of silence before the villagers are running out of their huts, nearly tripping over themselves to congratulate him. And then there's his favorite line: "What can we ever do to repay you?"

"The Church is in need of donations." He tells them. "And I am in need of some supplies, for the road to the nearest town is a long one."

They're more than happy to give him their savings and their tax money. It isn't much for it is a small village and he knows that they'll suffer a hard year for it, but he can't bring himself to say no.

-/-/-/

"So, Zelos, how thrilled were they to meet the 'Oh so great Chosen One?"

Zelos looks at the woman poking at the firewood, urging the flames higher. They were a complete contrast, he and Sheena. Where he was pale-skinned, blue-eyed and red-haired with a Meltokio accent that sometimes returns to his words when he's at his most relaxed, Sheena was all ebony hair and lightly tanned skin with no accent to hint at where she started life.

Curled up beside her is small fox-like creature that Zelos is never quite sure what to call it. Sheena had said that Corrine was a Summon Spirit, a small one. But Corrine looked nothing like the fearsome Summon Spirits of the old tales that Zelos remembers memorizing as a child.

"Quite thrilled, actually. And they were ever so grateful to be rid of their 'evil spirit'." Zelos put their reward into their packs. They'd divide it into shares tomorrow morning. "And you couldn't have given me a better challenge, Ms. Summoner? That spirit was ridiculously easy to beat."

Sheena glanced over at him and she looked almost devious with the firelight creating exotic shadows across her face. "Well, when I do that, then you complain that I mess up your dashing good looks with a cut on the cheek, which, by the way, hasn't scarred like you said it would."

"That's because I'm good at healing magic."

"Liar. You know healing magic, but you're not good at it. What you know is basics."

"Like you could do any better?" Zelos shot back.

Sheena doesn't reply, but accepts the hard bread that Zelos hands her. She's gotten very good at not remembering times before she met Zelos Wilder three years ago, but every now and then, the memories creep their own way to the surface before she forcefully shoves them back into their little box.

She hadn't been trained to heal, after all.

"Hey, Zelos," Sheena began, a little hesitantly, "I've been thinking."

"A most dangerous past time." She half-glared at him and he put his hands up. "Alright, alright. What were these deep thoughts about?"

Sheena leaned back on her hands. "How long can we really keep this scam up? One of these days, we're going to head to a town that'll know that you're not the real Chosen and we'll get thrown in jail for years for impersonating such a high member of the Church."

Zelos didn't answer right away, but he crossed his long legs and clasped his hands loosely in his lap. "Where are you going with this?"

"I've been saving up gald for a while and I've finally got enough to buy this old coffee shop in Sybak. There's an apartment right above it that's part of the price. I thought we could…y'know…run it together."

Zelos stared at her. A coffee shop? It seemed so ordinary after three years of traveling together and running scams. And it was in Sybak, the second-largest city in Tethe'alla. It had been a long time since he'd lived in an actual city with normal people. As much as he might enjoy her company, there was no mistaking Sheena Fujibayashi as normal.

He's not sure if it's a good thing that he was at his most comfortable with a not-normal woman that he knew nothing about.

Well, not quite nothing. He knew that she was stubborn and independent; just a tad feminist and fiery-tempered. She was a summoner, something long thought extinct or hidden from the world. She didn't like the taste of alcoholic drinks. She hated soup and her favorite meal was some meat, rice and beans.

But he knew nothing about where she came from. She never spoke of her childhood, of the place where she grew up. She said nothing of her admittedly incredible fighting skills. But then, he didn't say anything to her about his past either, so he supposed it was fair.

"If you don't like the idea, just tell me." Sheena was avoiding his eyes now, like she always did when she was uncomfortable.

"You got a name for this coffee shop of yours?"

She looked back at him. "I thought I'd let you do that. You're the one who's better with words after all."

"I suppose I could come up with something, genius that I am." Zelos smirked over at her. "Besides, what would you do without me?"

"Probably have a lot fewer headaches." But there was a smile on her lips as she said it.

-/-/-/-

Zelos and Sheena glanced at each other as Sybak came into view. Sheena's hair was pulled back into its customary ponytail and she wore a faded pair of black breeches and a white muslin shirt that was a tad too big on her. Her few extra clothes, along with her share of the scam money—whatever was left of it as most of it had gone to the buying of this coffee shop—as well as their supplies from the road were in the pack on her back.

Zelos was wearing his loose, white breeches and a black shirt. His old sleeveless, pink coat was folded and hidden out of sight in his own pack. It was all well and good to wear it when they were running the scam—something so flamboyant was expected of the Chosen of Mana, after all—but in a university town like Sybak, it would be too noticeable. His sword was still at his hip and he had a dagger in each boot. A faded black scarf held back his hair rather than the usual headband. His hair would draw as much attention as the coat and though he couldn't hide it all because it was, after all, longer than Sheena's, much of recognizing a person came from first appearances.

"Where is this shop?"

"I was told that it was near Hemmel Ave."

"You have no idea where that is, do you?"

Sheena shook her head. "Not a clue."

"Wait here." Zelos strode over to a young woman reading on a bench. "Excuse me?" She looked up at him. "I'm sorry to bother you, but could you direct me to Hemmel Ave?"  
"Yeah sure." She pointed to the many stalls that had been set up for market. Half of them were students trying to sell inventions or hand-made trinkets. "Just go down that way, take a left and then take the…fourth right? Yeah, the fourth one."

"Thanks, hunny."

Zelos caught Sheena's eye and jerked his head towards the stalls. When she'd caught up with him, she said, "Another one of your conquests?"

Sheena didn't know much about Zelos Wilder, but she did know that he was a bit of a womanizer.

He smiled innocently at her. "Would I do such a thing, darling?"

"I don't think discussing what you would or would not do is a safe topic right now." Sheena said darkly.

Zelos chuckled. The stalls' wares shimmered in the sunlight and woven bracelets caught their eyes. There were embroidered pillows and leather journals; paintings and charcoal sketches. There was one stall dedicated entirely to books that were well-thumbed with their pages yellowed. They were classics, from the titles on their spines and Zelos made a mental note of where it was since he might buy a few of those himself.

"Zelos."

He turned towards her, hearing the odd note in her voice. Following her gaze, he saw the building. "This is it? Kind of a fixer-upper, ain't it?" The walls were cracked, the windows a little dirty. The wood on the door was splintered and the small balcony upstairs that they could only assume belonged to the apartment had laundry drying on the banister.  
"It's not nearly so bad."

They both looked at the young woman with her hands on her hips. Her silver hair was short enough to just brush her shoulders and her cerulean eyes were steely.

"And you are…?" They asked.

"I'm the former owner of this establishment and it is _not_ a fixer-upper. We've been having some problems with the weather lately, that's all." The woman held out a hand and Sheena and Zelos shook it. Her hand was calloused and ink-stained. "My name is Raine Sage, by the way."  
"Sheena Fujibayashi." "Zelos Wilder." They replied at the same time.

"Come on in, then. When you said you'd be here soon, I didn't expect you within the week. It often takes people much longer than that to get here. The nearest town is Ozette, after all, and the forest is hard to travel through."  
The inside was very inviting. The counter was long enough to span the length of the room and there was a case on the end of it that looked as though it was for pastries and the like. Small tables were scattered across the room and no two chairs were alike. There were two bookshelves right beside the entrance to the stairs, which was to the left of the counter, that sagged beneath the weight of their contents.

"It's cozy." Sheena commented as she looked around. "Why are you selling it?"

"I was only doing this for a job." Raine replied. "I needed to save enough gald so that we could afford to go to the local university here."  
"'We'? Who else…?" Zelos began.

"My brother, Genis, also wants to attend the university." Raine frowned. "He should be home by now."

"I _am _home." Someone said, slightly affronted. Sheena and Zelos were both startled to see the boy coming down the stairs. His hair was a shade paler than Raine's and his eyes had a touch more gray, but there was no mistaking the relation. "I was making lunch." The boy looks at them. "Just a precaution, don't ever eat anything she gives you. You're likely to be poisoned."

Raine cuffed him hard over the head and Genis, for the boy was undoubtedly Raine's brother, winced even as he smiled at them.

"He's not your only brother, is he?" Sheena asked.

"Yes, he is. Why?"  
"I dunno. Aren't you a bit young to be going for a university, Genis?" Sheena asked. She'd always hated conversations like this. They reminded her of her own erratic education. At least, the education that was taught from textbooks.

"He's advanced for his age."

"Apparently."

"Ah, I nearly forgot. I was curious if you would mind doing us a small favor." Zelos inclined his chin, curious, and Sheena tilted her head a little. "There are two bedrooms upstairs and it's difficult to find apartments at this time of year. If it isn't too much trouble for you, we'd like to stay. Just until we find an apartment, you understand. We'd still be willing to help out with the shop and we'd share a bedroom of course."

Zelos and Sheena look at each other and Zelos shrugs. He doesn't particularly care either way. He wouldn't deny that Raine was beautiful, but it was the beauty of a marble statue; cold and untouchable.

Sheena smiles and tells them that that's no problem at all. It wasn't as though she and Zelos hadn't shared the same campsite for the past three years anyway. They were accustomed to each other. Sheena's still not entirely sure about all this—she's never run her own business before, after all—but surely four intelligent people could do this.

-/-/-/

The next morning is their first official day of business. Sheena, a natural early riser, woke first and showered, dressed and made her bed before she prodded Zelos awake. The redhead flopped on his back and blinked blearily up at her. Sheena isn't surprised to find his eyes still a little bloodshot before they shut tight.

"Why's I' so bright in here?"

Sheena had only opened the curtains part of the way. After three years, she was accustomed to Zelos' drunkenness on many nights. She never asks him why—it's none of her business after all—and Zelos has the good grace to drink only once she's asleep or not around. Sheena's come up with plenty of theories in the past as to why he would get himself drunk so much if he knew what the consequences were—he certainly wasn't an addict because she's seen him live perfectly fine without the alcohol during some hard times—and the theory that makes the most sense to her is that he's doing it to forget. She wants to know what was so terrible that he would want to forget it, but then she remembers the things in her own past and understands it a little better.

"It's not too bright." Sheena is careful to keep her voice quiet because he hadn't annoyed her much yesterday and talking any louder would be a punishment. It's a natural thing, their relationship of nagging and teasing and insulting each other. Sometimes they step too far on the insults, but it's rapidly forgotten. "It's called morning and we have work to get done. C'mon."

"I hate you." He murmurs, a forearm over his eyes.

"I'll give you five minutes before I come back and toss you in the shower."

Zelos hadn't been on the receiving end of that particular threat before, but he knows that she can throw him and that she certainly wasn't afraid to do it, so he rolls out of bed immediately. Something else that he was curious about. After all, there weren't many women who could throw a fully-grown man that far. Even if Zelos wasn't a large man, it was still an impressive feat.

But he wouldn't ask.

Because it was part of their unspoken code that they lived by. No questions, no lies. And her unflinching honesty was one of the things that Zelos most prized about Sheena.

True to her word, Sheena returned five minutes later. Zelos is dressed and toweling his hair dry and gives her a slightly annoyed good morning. He did enjoy his sleep after all. But any trace of annoyance leaves his mind as he sees the two mugs in Sheena's hands.

She hands him his coffee—black, just as he likes it—and the smell goes a long way to relieving his headache. "You're an angel, darling." He tells her. "Seriously, you've got wings."

Sheena rolls her eyes, but she lets the comment go. He only made the mistake of calling her 'hunny' once and he's only ever called her darling since. "You really think we're ready for this?"

"What, starting the coffee shop business?" Zelos leans a hip against the wall, taking a sip.

"Yeah. I've never run a business. I have no idea how to do this. Do you?"

"Not in the slightest. But that's the fun of it. Besides, Raine's been running the shop for a while. She'll show us the rest of the ropes."

"That cappuccino machine hates me." Sheena muttered and Zelos laughed.

"It wasn't that bad."  
"No? It sprayed coffee all over me and I just turned it on!"

"That's because you're a demonic banshee, remember?" He grins as she kicks him lightly in the shin. It had been some of their original scams. They'd get flour and berries to paint her face and she'd sweep into town, pretending to be an omen of death.

Zelos holds up his mug. "To partners in coffee entrepreneurship."

Sheena smiled a little reluctantly and clinked her mug against his.

-/-/-/

Their first day is filled with much spilling of coffees and broken glasses. The cappuccino machine spits up all over Sheena again and they forget or mix up a lot of orders. Genis is baking the pastries that go in the case and Raine runs the register.

It seems as though there's never a lull and Raine explains that it's because the students were all getting off of classes at different times. It's only when the sun is dipping below the sunset that they finally close shop.

"I have a newfound appreciation for people in the service industry." Zelos said, leaning his forearms on the counter.

"Agreed."

Genis hops up onto a stool and grins lopsidedly at them. "It's always bad the first day. It gets easier the more you do it, trust me."

"Am I allowed to kill that machine?" Sheena asked darkly, passing everyone a mug of spiced tea. As fond as she was of coffee, she wasn't sure she wanted to see it again until tomorrow.

Zelos thanked her and drank deeply from the mug before saying, "No, darling. We need that."

"Damn."

They chuckled.

"Any luck on that name?" Sheena looked at him over the rim over mug.

"I've got a few choices. Romo's Coffee."

The other three give him confused looks. "Tell me this has some kind of meaning behind it."

"I was doing some research on it last night." Sheena can see it in her mind. Zelos curled up somewhere, wine in one hand, a book in the other. "And the Romo were the first people recorded to discover coffee. Their tradition was to plant a coffee tree over the grave of the most powerful of their deceased sorcerers and summoners. Their belief was that the first coffee bush sprang up from the tears that the Goddess shed over the body of the hero, Mithos.*"

Sheena shifted on her stool. "I like the way that sounds."

"Where did you find that information?" Raine asked, washing out her already empty mug.

"Headed to the library. It's open to the public, isn't it?"

"Not for very long after dark it isn't."

Zelos lifted and dropped his shoulders in a graceful shrug. "I may or may not have broken the lock a bit."

"Wonderful. I allowed a thief to buy the shop." Raine muttered.

"Hey, I didn't buy it." Zelos protested. "Sheena did."

"And he didn't actually break in." Sheena told them. "He was lying." Zelos doesn't like the fact that she can read him so easily. "He probably just flirted with the librarian and convinced her to let him in. It wouldn't be the first time he's used women to do something illegal."

"You sound so degrading."

"You're a womanizer. It's not exactly a well-looked upon habit."

Raine realized when they walked in that arguing and baiting each other was an integral part of Sheena and Zelos' relationship, whatever it was. Partners, certainly. Friends, most likely.

"We've gotten away from the actual point. Are we keeping the name?"

"I like it." Sheena voted.

"Same."

"Do I really need to state my opinion?" Zelos asked, spreading his hands. "I came up with it, after all."

"Then it appears we're keeping the name." Raine toasted with the rest of them. "To the opening of Romo's Coffee."

"Hear hear." The others chorused.

-/-/

*Got this from the beliefs of the Oromo people, an ethnic group from Ethiopia. Changed some of it around, obviously


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Don't own anything.

**Author's Note:** Back from Miami and I had an awesome time. Beaches, pools and awesome food; what's not to love?

Got past the part I was stuck at in Arc Rise Fantasia. The damn plant thing has gone down! *pumps fist in the air* Aaaaand I got stuck again on the next boss. I feel like I'm playing Fire Emblem and getting stuck on every other stage, but I'm really starting to get into the storyline now, so I have lots of motivation to beat down Crabby McShrimperson (AKA the boss)

-/-/-/

"_Armand is not who you think he is."_

"_You have no idea who I think he is."_

"_Well I think I know who you think he is."_

"_No, no, no, because you do not think."_

_-Zorro and Elena__** (The Legend of Zorro)**_

-/-/-/

A sudden flash made both of them fumble for their weapons, instantly awake. Zelos' pale blue eyes seemed to hover in the dark, glancing in every direction as he tried to find the source of the flash.

"What in Martel's name…?"

Sheena stood slowly from her tangled nest of blankets on the floor. Zelos had been ready to roll a die to decide who would get the bed, but she'd let him have it. Sheena had never been able to get truly comfortable on a bed anyway. After half of her life sleeping on the ground and the other half sleeping on straw mats, an actual mattress seemed uncomfortable to her.

"I've no idea. You ever seen anything like that?" She asked him, heading for the door.

"No, I haven't." Zelos concentrated on Sheena's voice to make sure he didn't crash into her. The woman was otherwise nearly impossible to detect in the darkness.

Another flash briefly illuminated the room and Zelos was surprised that Sheena was little more than two, perhaps three steps in front of him. She was stealthier than he'd thought.

The door opened with a soft squeak and they both slid into the hallway. Opposite them was the Sage siblings' bedroom and to the left of that, the bathroom they all shared.

Zelos and Sheena glanced at each other. "We're not imagining things, are we?"

"No, you're not."

They both looked at Raine, quietly shutting the door behind her. The candle in her hand illuminated them all. "Then what is all this?"

"I told you we'd been having some bad weather lately."

"No way. That isn't thunder. It's too…" Zelos searched for the word. "Untamed for thunder and lightning."

"That's kind of an oxymoron, don't you think?" Raine remarked.

"Whether it's an oxymoron is beside the point. If there's a storm with this kind of fireworks, there should be rain with it. But I can't hear the rain."

"There never is any kind of rain when this happens."

"And it happens often?"

"At least once, usually twice a week."

"This can't have been going on forever. Someone would've reported it to the King." Zelos pointed out.

"The King wouldn't respond nearly fast enough to stop it." Sheena argued. "And besides, what are you going to ask him to do? Stop a thunderstorm?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Zelos demanded.

"I do." Raine said. "Some tea and then some research for me."

"Not going back to sleep?"

"If I could sleep through this, I would. But seeing as how I can't, I might as well get some work done."

Zelos slid the dagger he'd snatched from beneath his pillow into the pocket of his sweatpants as he followed the women into the small kitchen. There was no dining table, just stools at the counter. It's only now that they're all in the full light of the kitchen that Zelos can really see the women.

Raine was wearing a sweater over her sleep shirt and the cotton pants were a tad too short. Zelos knew that Raine had been saving money, but he hadn't thought about just how much the university cost or how much she got paid for working the shop.

Sheena was wearing a button shirt that was big enough that the hem came down past her thighs. It might have started crimson-colored, but it was worn and faded now. Zelos couldn't tell if she was wearing anything else. His eyes instinctively followed the long line that her legs made as Sheena leaned against the counter, from the small bare feet to smooth, muscular calves up to…

Zelos breaks his gaze away before she catches him staring. It doesn't escape his notice that the shirt that Sheena's wearing is a men's shirt and he ignores the question nagging at the back of his mind that asks who, exactly, she got that shirt from.

No questions, no lies, Zelos reminds himself.

"So what are you planning to study in the university?" Sheena asked Raine.

"Archaeology." Raine replied.

"That's not what I was expecting." Zelos commented. "Most beautiful, smart women want to be doctors or lawyers. Which means there's something specific driving you to study archaeology. So what deep dark secret are you hiding?" Just because he and Sheena's policy was no questions, no lies, didn't meant that that applied to everyone else.

"So I can't just have a love for the subject itself, can I?"

"If that was the case, you'd be going to a cheaper school. Sybak is mostly isolated from any ruins. There's some out by Altamira, two a few miles in either direction of Meltokio, which has its own prestigious university that's more open to the public, thus cheaper. But you want the best minds in archaeology, the ones with the most information, the most details. Why?"

Raine's eyes steeled. "That's none of your concern."

Sheena sighed. "You _had_ to go there."

Zelos met her eyes. "You can't tell me you aren't the least bit curious."

"You have no idea of boundaries, do you?" Sheena knew that that wasn't entirely true. Zelos had never dug into her business, even if he had a reason.

Zelos didn't flinch away from her glare. He could tell her that he only ever respected boundaries with her because she was so refreshing and opinionated, so…absolutely _Sheena_…that he didn't want to mess it up. And he knew that if he respected boundaries, so would she and he had no wish for anyone to go digging into his past.

The room lit up even more with another flash.

"Seriously, what causes that? That's not normal lightning."

"Whatever it is, it gives this town most of its power through the generators and the power cells. It's been going on long enough that they've become accustomed to its occurrence. Part of Sybak's industry is dependent on the flashes. There are blackout curtains and ear plugs; contractors make lots of money off of repairing buildings."

"How long's this been going on?" Sheena asked, arms crossed over her stomach.

"Longer than I've been here."

"And how long have you been here?"

"Eight years."

"Interesting." Zelos said.

The women turned to look at him. "What's interesting?"  
"Either you look remarkably young for your age, like your brother, or you age slowly."

Raine's hand tightened on the mug of tea in her hand. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"How old is Genis?"

"He'll be turning thirteen in the spring."

"Which would make him…what, four, five years old when you moved here?"

"Right."

Sheena ran a hand through her hair, not liking where this was going. But it wasn't as though she could stop him. When Zelos got started on psychoanalyzing someone, stopping him was about as likely as asking the rain not to be wet.

"You wouldn't have been able to make the university costs for two, even cutting down as much as you have in eight years. Not if you had to raise a child too. So you're a slow ager. Why? "

"I'm an elf. Are you happy now?"

"Now that doesn't make any sense." Sheena frowned at him. He looked back at her. "It doesn't. She's here to study archaeology. If she was really fully elven, she would be studying with the elves in Heimdall. Who better to learn about the ruins from than those who've been around longest? And the only people that the King gives out visas to go into Heimdall are humans. And since you don't have one, it's easy to assume you aren't human. And the elves don't refuse passage to their own kind and you're clearly not a dwarf, so the only option left is that you're a half-elf. And half-elves aren't allowed to be in school, which means you're hiding it."

Raine's face was carved of ice as she turned on her heel and left the room. Sheena massaged her temples. She knew this couldn't have ended well.

"Well done, Zelos. Do you want a reward?"

"It's an automatic execution for half-elves who break the law, Sheena. You know that as well as I do. And this is one of the biggest laws."

Sheena's eyes narrowed. "Yes, because neither of us has ever done something illegal."

"We're not half-elves!"

"There it is. I never would have pegged you for prejudice and racism, Wilder."

Zelos pressed his lips into a thin line. "That's what you get for assuming."

"So you're pinning this on me?"

"No. I'm saying you shouldn't assume things that you're not sure about."

"So a couple of days after we met, when you asked me how I was able to summon and I told you even though I've been shunned for the ability half my life and you said that you didn't care what I was, that doesn't extend to half-elves?"  
"No, it doesn't."

"What did the half-elves do to you to make you hate them so much?" Sheena asked, hands on her hips.

Zelos' eyes steeled. "What did they do to earn such a powerful defense from you?"

"They haven't done anything, Zelos! That's the point! They're people, just like everyone else and they deserve the same chances."

"No. Not them." Zelos turning on his heel and going for his coat.

Sheena called after him. "You never answered my question. What'd they do?"

Zelos shrugs on his coat. "Get some sleep, Sheena. There's another day of work tomorrow. It's been a week, but you know that neither of us are still good at this."

"Are you going to find the nearest bar?" She can't be angry with him for this part. Sheena knows very well the need to forget.

He looked back at her. "…Don't wait up for me."

-/-/-/-

He doesn't come back the next day. Sheena hadn't actually expected him to be on time for the morning shift; she knows that after a night of drinking that it's difficult to wake him. With no one to wake him, he wouldn't be awake until nearly eleven, at the earliest.

But when his familiar form doesn't come through the door at all, Sheena finds herself a little concerned. Zelos is perfectly capable of taking care of himself, but Sheena wouldn't be surprised to find him passed out in some gutter.

"You're really going to look for that guy?"

Sheena looks back at Genis, whose anger makes him seem older than twelve, if that was his true age. Sheena knows that the longer-lived races have periods of rapid growth with long plateaus without change. "Yes."

"I don't see why. He…" Genis hesitated before continuing. "He hurt my sister. She won't show it, or tell you, but he did. We thought we'd finally outrun the prejudice. No one's figured it out since we came here. Not 'til him."

"Genis, listen. I'm totally with you on the fact that what he said he was wrong. But…for better or worse, Zelos is my partner. And partners watch out for each other."

Genis shook his head. "I don't get it."

"What?"

His pale, gray-blue eyes are looking at her intently. "You're human, right?"

"Yeah."

"And so is Zelos. I'm never going to get why people of the same race can think so differently. You don't hate us, do you?"

"'Course not. Zelos though…still hating him a bit right now."

Genis cracked a smile at that. "You're not in love with him, are you?"

Sheena laughed out loud at the thought. She wouldn't deny that Zelos wasn't good-looking, but there'd never been anything like _that _between them. "Goddess, no. No way. He's my partner and a friend, most of the time."

Genis doesn't know what to say to that. It had been just him and Raine for as long as he could remember and you were supposed to be there for family.

Sheena's out the door before he can think of a reply.

-/-/-/

It takes her nearly an hour to find him. She doesn't know Sybak, had never been there before, and it's one of the biggest towns in the country. Her entire home village could fit in the town square alone. She starts with the bars, looking for any trace of him and asking people whether they'd seen him. Most of them said no, not that she was surprised about that. It had been late when he'd gone.

When she does find him, he's slumped on a doorstep in an alley looking rather miserable. But at the very least, he wasn't dead. He looks up when her feet come into view. "You found me."

"Surprise, surprise. I was always rather good at chase me, find me when the village kids would play." Sheena moves to sit beside him, though there's hardly any room left on the doorstep. "You look like hell."

"Thanks so much, darling."

"Were you planning on coming back sometime today?"

"Apparently you didn't think so or else you wouldn't have come lookin' for me."

"I thought I should make sure that you didn't get killed by a stray cat or something."

Zelos smiled a little. "So considerate."

"How long have you been awake?" His voice was still a little rough, but there was no slur to his words and his eyes weren't bloodshot.

"Couple hours, maybe."

"Do you know the way back?"

Zelos snorted. "'Course I do. I've got a photographic memory."

"Really?" Sheena said, surprised. "I didn't know that." Zelos gives her a look. "Well, it's not like you know everything about me either."

"It's the Traveler's Code." He was only half-joking. They'd never spoken of their code aloud, had never given it a name, but they both knew it existed.

"I guess."

They sat in a slightly awkward silence, twiddling their thumbs and not looking at each other.

Finally, Sheena shifts a bit and turns just a bit so she could see him. "Look, I don't think I owe you an apology or anything. I meant what I said."

"We both did." The warning in his voice is subtle but there. This subject is dangerous and he knows that if Sheena were to dig, really dig, into his past, he wouldn't be able to lie to her and he knows that she would hate the truth.

"So why didn't you come back?"

Zelos shrugs a little. "I woke up here and…it felt peaceful here, I guess."

Sheena looks up and down the small alley. There are lines of laundry hanging from lines, some singed and others burnt straight through. There are tiles missing from some of the roofs and there are new cracks in the pavement. But the bustle of the town is a distant sound and the small strip of sky above them is clear and cerulean. It wasn't peaceful the way most people thought of it, but it had a certain serenity to it that Sheena appreciated.

"So it had nothing to do with guilt over what you said to Raine?"  
"There's no point in feeling guilty over telling somebody something they needed to hear."

"She didn't need to hear that, Zelos! That's my point. She knew all of that, she'd lived it. You were being an ass, is what you were doing with your psychological jumbo."

"She lied to us."

"No, she didn't. You forced her to lie, forced her into a corner to play your little mind game. Raine wasn't doing anything wrong."

"She's breaking the law as we speak, Sheena. Half-elves aren't allowed to study."

"And you're a sudden advocate of the law, aren't you?" Sheena got to her feet and held out her hand. "I'm not going to keep arguing with you on this, since we can keep going in circles all we want. Come on. You need to eat."

Zelos takes the offered hand and allows himself to be pulled to his feet. He knows why they'll keep going in circles. It's because they knew nothing more about the other and it would be, quite literally, the same argument each time. He doesn't want that. He likes to argue with Sheena, likes to hear her thoughts and her anger and her stubborn insistence in her beliefs, whatever they were.

They're walking back to the coffee shop, avoiding the big crowds because they're both uncomfortable in them. Not that they've ever said as much. Anything they know about each other is observation. Sheena's eyes are always glancing around, never only focused on one thing. She sees the uneven cobblestones on some of the older streets, sees the grimy, cracked windows and the brightly-colored ball that a group of children were playing with.

"Sheena?" She turns to look at him, but she only focuses on him for a moment. Oh, her attention is on him, but he knows that some part of her mind is everywhere else and he wonders why she did that. "Tell me something true about you."

Suddenly, everything snaps back to him and she's far too still. "I hate asparagus."

Zelos chuckles a little at that, but he makes sure to keep his mind focused on her responses. "Something real, darling." He wants to start easy, wants to not get too deep into this. "Where were you before you started traveling?"

Sheena stuffs her hands in her pockets and tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear. "You won't know where it is."

"Try me." He said encouragingly.

"It's a little village. Most people don't even know it exists. Hell, I don't even think it's on a map."

"So you're a country girl." He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it fits rather well in the puzzle of Sheena Fujibayashi. "Do you want the white picket fence and two point five kids too?" Zelos teased gently. She glared playfully at him and he laughed.

"Well, what about you? Where were you before you started traveling?"

"Meltokio. I grew up there."

Sheena scoffs a little. "Figures that you're a city boy." Zelos wouldn't have fit in anywhere else but the city. Even after traveling with him for three years through the country, it was still clear that he didn't fit there.

"We're not so bad."

"Uh-huh. I didn't think that word of our scams would get this far though."

"It'll surprise you, how much people like to talk."

"I doubt that many more people could talk as much as you." Sheena said, smirking sideways at him.

Before Zelos can retort, someone scream and immediately they both whip their heads towards the source of the sound. There's no one injured, no one getting attacked. There's just a girl who's beaming and pointing at Zelos.

"It's the Chosen One! Chosen One, look here!"

Immediately there were quite a few girls surrounding him, Sheena having been pushed aside by the force of the wave of girls. The smile hooked on Zelos' lips is only there by long force of habit. His eyes are seeking out Sheena, who looks like she's fighting laughter.

He knows she wouldn't look like that if she knew the truth.

She'd snarl and rage at him for not saying anything, for not telling her something that was the equivalent of her being a summoner. But that person wasn't who he was. He'd spent his entire life disproving that. He wondered if she could understand that.

Zelos makes his excuses, charming his way out of the girls before he joins Sheena once more. The vestiges of her laughter are still on her face when she says, "Are your adoring fans so terrible that my poor company is better?"

"Come now, darling. What kind of man would I be to pass up on the country girl goddess standing right beside me?"

She slaps his shoulder, but not hard enough to hurt. Zelos smiles it off because he knows that if she were to ever find out the truth, she'd hate him. Not forever, but enough that what they had might break. He's not sure what he would do if that were to happen. Continue to travel, perhaps, but Sheena had become a large part of his life now, and he knew full well that there would be no other people like her.

In that case, Zelos thought, it was best that Sheena didn't find out the truth then.

-/-/-/

Zelos doesn't offer an apology to Raine when they finally walk through the door and Raine doesn't ask for one. Sheena knows that they won't like each other now, won't be able to respect each other, but she hopes that they can at least work together.

The days are monotonous and frantic with the serving of coffee and trying not to trip and spill anything, or forget people's orders. But as Genis had promised, the work slowly got easier and it didn't take long for Sheena to be able to laugh off the uncomfortable feeling that meant she'd spilled the coffee on herself once again.

She still hated that cappuccino machine though.

Zelos is surprised when a knock comes at the bathroom door. They tried not to take showers too close together or for too long to save some hot water for everybody and they didn't usually bother each other while they were bathing.

"What's up?" He calls over the powerful jets of water.

"Someone downstairs to see you." Sheena replies just as loudly. "And hurry it up. We're set to open soon."

Zelos hurriedly washes the soap from his body, his mind running over the options on who had found him. It could just be one of the girls from town, but there was no way that they knew his whole name to ask for him. That only left the people he'd left behind in Meltokio and he prayed to the Goddess _(For the first time in almost a decade because he doesn't actually care much about praying and he doesn't think it really works anyway)_ that it wasn't them.

He dresses and runs a quick brush through his hair before going downstairs. The morning rush had yet to hit and there's a professor from the university sitting with his usual morning cup of coffee and Zelos knows that he'll order another one before he leaves. There's a couple of night watchmen, just off their shift, and a few students who chose to woke up early.

But when he sees who's speaking to Sheena, he freezes. Sheena catches his eye and motions him over. Zelos follows automatically, though his mind is raging at the thought of _him _being here.

"This guy says he knows you." She'd noticed that something was off about him from the slight twist at the corner of her smile and the look in her hazel eyes.

The middle-aged man standing just behind the counters hair was dark brown with a few streaks of gray that hadn't been there the last time Zelos had seen him. He wasn't much taller than Zelos, but his shoulders were broader. He was dressed in Meltokio's finery and Zelos wanted to hate him just for that reminder of where he came from.

"Richard." Zelos greets, with a slight nod. It takes all of his self-control to remember his manners. "What brings the Head of Civil Defense out here?"

"Well, there've been rumors for years on how the Chosen One was helping rid the smaller villages of evil spirits. Naturally, I thought of you."

Zelos feels the crystal he keeps on a chain long enough to hide beneath his shirt burning against his skin. "That doesn't explain why you're here."

"I'm assuming that you've experienced the storms here?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Well, I've been getting plenty of complaints on them. We've tracked the source."

Zelos and Sheena both stared at him. "And the source is…?"

"There's an island not too far out from here. The storms originate from there. Our scholars and tacticians have all looked through the history and records of that island and they've come to the conclusion that this is all the doing of a Summon Spirit."

Zelos crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. "What does this have to do with me?"

"Seeing as how you were doing so much for those villagers and ridding them of their 'evil spirits', we thought that the Chosen should be able to take care of this spirit too."

Zelos knows that Sheena is going to sit him down and interrogate him as soon as Richard leaves and he's already bracing himself for it. "Who's 'we'?"  
Richard smiled and it wasn't a cheerful one. It was one that Zelos had long ago become accustomed to seeing on Meltokio nobles, most often in their politics. "The King, the Pope and I, naturally."

Zelos catches a motion, hardly there, out of the corner of his eye. It's Sheena's hand clenching into a fist and her entire body tensing. "And if I were to refuse?"

"You'd be charged with treason and sedition. And dear Seles…what would happen to her, I wonder?"

Zelos' eyes steel and his voice is harsh. "Keep her well away from this, Richard. Are there any specifications for this thing?"

"We'd prefer that you didn't kill it. I hear that the Imperial Research Academy wants to study this Spirit, seeing as how it's been such a powerful source of energy for Sybak." Richard nodded to both of them. "Remember to report to the King once you're through, Chosen One."

The bell on the door jingled cheerfully as the door closed behind him. Sheena had a hand on her hip and the other on the counter. Her eyes were full of roiling anger. "Zelos, I need to speak with you upstairs."


End file.
